Local man charged with aggravated sexual battery

(Franklin, GA) — A Heard County man has been jailed for allegedly assaulting a teenager in late October.

According to a report by investigator Lt. Deborah Williamson of the Heard County Sheriff’s Office, 23-year-old Richard Charles Hallmark is accused in a warrant charging him with aggravated sexual battery for committing an act of an explicitly sexual nature against a 16-year-old female.

The incident occurred at a rural location in western Heard County on October 29.

Hallmark was arrested on November 13 and remains in the Heard County jail with no bond.

In the State of Georgia, a person commits the offense of aggravated sexual battery when he or she intentionally penetrates with a foreign object the sexual organ or anus of another person without the consent of that person.

Williamson reports the teenage victim was sleeping at the time of the alleged assault.